22 DIY Ways To Help Prevent Data Theft

In order to prevent data theft, a credit card account holder has to take measures to protect against data breach. The basics of identity theft prevention are actually pretty simple and doable. In this article, we show you 22 practical ways.

A data breach is the last thing anyone needs. Because identity theft risks include spiraling into bad credit, that should be a higher motivation to prevent data theft.

Here are 22 DIY Ways To Help Prevent Data Theft:

1. Keep mail out of reach of thieves.

2. Install a CCTV camera near your mailbox.

3. Gather your mail as soon as you get home.

4. Install a mailbox slot on your door, so that the mail hits the floor directly behind the door instead.

5. Shred your documents before you throw them away.

6. Make sure you keep important documents, especially your Social Security Card, in a safe place. A growing number of reports indicated that the worst ID theft criminals are actually the victim’s own relatives and even the significant other.

11. As much as possible, don’t reveal your child’s SSN to anyone else. While your child’s doctor and school may require your child’s SSN, work on requesting that you withhold your child’s.

12. Let school authorities know that you can only give out your child’s birthday and birth month, but not the year. This way, no would-be ID thief can look through your kid’s class birthday boards and get his details from there.

13. Keep your child’s SS Card in a safe place, like in a locked safe.

14. Don’t be tempted to use your child’s SS Number to take out loans and get yourself or your partner a lifeline for your own financial problems. You could compromise his credit history and credit report, and your child could be dealing with bad credit way before he even gets to use credit at all.

15. If you are going to undergo a divorce, keep your children’s SS Cards and Numbers safe from the former partner who wasn’t granted custody. There have been cases of parents who have abused their own children’s identity data, and these have usually been the parents who weren’t granted custody.

Identity Theft Prevention During Travel:

16. When you deposit your things in safety deposit boxes, don’t just deposit your jewelry and money. Also deposit your laptop, mobile phones, especially smartphones, and documents. This way, in case anyone breaks into your room, these are kept safe.

17. Whenever you target a foreign destination, always research the place before making up your mind on going. Some tourist hotspots are also hotspots for theft. So read up and research on how you can protect yourself best.

18. When out and about, don’t bring major valuables with you, especially those that contain data. Valuables that contain data include smartphones and credit cards. As much as possible, just bring cash. You’ll be surprised how much $100 (USD) could buy you in flea markets in some countries.

19. If you really need to use your credit card, bring something with enhanced ID theft protection, such as American Express.

Prevent Data Theft On Regular Days:

20. When riding the bus or subway, keep your things close to you. If you can clutch your bag to your chest, do so. One method of pick pocketing is through reaching into a victim’s bag and lifting wallets or smartphones out of it.

21. Just as we advised in the “Identity Theft Prevention During Travel” section, we also advise that you keep your wallets and smartphones in a bag instead of your jeans pockets. Be extra wary about keeping your valuables in the back pockets of your jeans, too. The back pockets are the easiest places to lift wallets from.

22. Credit monitoring is a good service to have at any given time. Whether you’re traveling or just living your life on the daily grind, credit monitoring gives you an extra layer of protection by catching transactions you could have missed.

In order to prevent data theft, a credit account user really has to be vigilant. Identity theft prevention could be simple, if you follow these practical tips. These anti-data breach moves are simple and doable, and you can definitely work them into your daily lifestyle.

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Amy Johnson is an active blogger who is fond of sharing interesting finance related articles to encourage people to manage and protect their finances. Follow her and know more on how to prevent credit card fraud and how identity theft monitoring helps in preventing identity theft.

Comments

I think it is sad that we have to even think about these things. I keep my important docs in a safe and shred almost everything. I am also installing some cameras in my house just in case someone breaks in and tries to steal anything from me. It is easier to see who is trying to rob you when you have a camera. Great tips Amy.

Great tips, especially about the mail. So much private information comes through the post that if anyone got hold of it that shouldn’t who knows what would happen. For a while our post lady was giving us mail that belonged to someone else in our area. instead of putting it back in the box wrong address we walked it over. Lots of people get nosey and open mail that isn’t theirs. It really bothers me when it comes to mail and private info,

Good point Mr. CBB, snail mail poses a huge threat to having your information stolen. This is why I’m glad we have things like internet bank available now with the huge increase of identity theft. In the case you are referring to those people are lucky no one opened their mail because it would have been so easy for them to have their info stolen and they would have never known what hit them until it was to late.

Thanks Jose. When it comes to computers I could put an entire article together just on that topic alone, but I’m not a hugely tech savvy person but I might put something together on that at some point.

I think Data breach is not a small thing anymore because any personal and financial information is valuable and can be the cause of identity theft So this blog is giving us a nice ways to protect all the data breach tips which surly helps the people to prevention of House hold theft and child theft prevention and identity theft prevention during the travelling and all the days ..All the tips are really so much help full. Thanks to all that …